Finished final exams *whew*! One of the hardest semesters yet, but not because of course load in terms of credits. Perhaps it was the most difficult in terms of time required because i took 3 literature classes, two Spanish and one German which amounts for a lot of reading and not so much practical skill building :( methinks i blogged on my frustration with this sometime last semester at least once. Anyway, i'm a slow reader as it is, so reading in a foreign language doesn't exactly make me any faster. Also, though i'm "pumping up my vocabulary" as my roommate so aptly put it, i'm not exactly learning the practical, day to day stuff i'd need to communicate well in a foreign country of the Spanish or German language persuasion. This is most frustrating, considering this is one of my main goals in language acquisition. Fortunately i'll at least have a Deutschkonversationsklasse this coming (my final) term. However, i will still have to take a German literature class, and i think i'm going to be auditing the second half of one literature class i took last semester (Culture and Literature of Latin America I), because i liked it, and also it might be one of my only chances to keep my Spanish in at least semi-working condition. So here we go. Part II. At least if i audit it i won't have to take any exams or write papers. But we'll see what happens. Also i'm taking French 101, so that c'est fantastique or something like that. Plus a human diversity class, which i still need for my GE.
Just prior to my rousing bout of exams, i went on a day trip to Rojo Gomez, Mexico with Rock Harbor. Then i worked the next week and enjoyed the Christmas festivities with Kirsten and her family (both sides). On Tuesday night my mom arrived, which was great because we got to hang out for a full day in Orange before having to leave for Rancho Bernardo and my housemate's home base in San Diego County. We were staying with him because we needed to meet at the San Diego Airport with the rest of the group who was going down to...Rojo Gomez of all places to build houses, give out shoes, food, clothes, household products and other goods to the folks down in Mejico. What a trip! It really stretched us all and was by far the best Mexico service trip i've been on yet. If you'd like to know more, ask me! Club Dust was the organization (.org) and highly recommended. Anyone want to go on their summer trip with me? They'll be posting the itinerary for the summer trip May 15th. Upon reentry into the US on December 31st, i got some sort of stomach bug/food poisoning from A's Burgers which led to me puking up until a few hours before the switch into 2007. At least i managed to stop long enough to enjoy viewing the film Footloose with my mom and Kirsten who had decided to go to Ricardo's while i was sleeping/barfing.
2007 has been good to me so far. Mostly i've been working and doing things around the house and going on dates with Kirsten and hanging out with my housemates. On Martin Luther King Jr. day i also got to hang out with the children of a certain professor whom i work for, which was quite fun. **I have a dream!** Kirsten even joined us three plus the dog and housemaid for a stroll around the neighborhood. :) In addition i was able to wrangle up a second job, though i haven't been able to work as many hours as a i would have liked--or rather, i haven't been able to earn as many extra clams as i would have liked. The not working a second job part is just fine by me! Free afternoons, Scrabble, Jeopardy. You know.
Kirsten and i were able to go up to San Jose for a quite short weekend trip to celebrate my Grandmother's birthday, and it was well worth it. As usual, i really needed to get up there. It had been 6 months since i'd seen my little brother, so it was good to see him even though it was only for a very short time. The good news is i'm flying out to visit him in Arizona for a long weekend in February. So anyway, Grandma, mom and dad, Travis, and Kirsten and i ventured up into The City to take a gander at the Titanic exhibit at the Metrion. It was pretty cool. Later we watched the Kate Winslet/Leo DiCaprio version of the movie (i found out there are at least 3 older ones). Mr. Kyle Warner later called me to inform me that he was strolling by the Metrion complete with Titanic ads in his new home city (!) which was rather special. Which reminds me...
With a heavy heart many of us Orangites had to say "so long, farewell, aufwiedersehen, goodbye" to our good island friend, Herr Kyle C. Warner. A party was held at Kirsten's residence and not surprisingly many were in attendance. A massive Apples to Apples session was held as well as a "let's all tell funny/cool/serious stories about Kyle and remind him how much he is loved" session. 'Twas a fun time had by most, i believe. (Do we really ever know if ALL had a good time at any given gathering?) We shall miss you greatly, sir. Enjoy San Francisco for us SoCal schmucks who can't at the moment.
Some other adventures include biking like a manic to and from my super part time second job and getting a free couch off the street with the help of a very friendly mejicano name Rafael (i even bought him lunch at Tacos Pepe and the owner recognized me and brought out some sweet T-shirts i'd ordered from him). Also Aro, Glines twins, Kirsten and i had a rad night of hanging out. Kirsten and i just started our premarital class at Rock Harbor and my discipleship group finally hammered down a good meeting time (praise the LORD), so yay!
Well, i'm getting pretty tired and i think that about covers it anyway.
"NOW IS THE TIME FOR COW!!!"
PS, i just gave my blog a major makeover, so let me know what you think! (Readability, ease of viewing, etc.)
1 comment:
time to update again!
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